Rotary engine



4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

J. M. FARMER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Fay.

WITNESSE INVENTOR: mv JIM/W ATTORNEYS.

loillnogrnpher. Wasmnglcm 11c.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

d Dec. 18

INVENTOR: Jam

WITNE S: M

ATTORNEYS,

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

J. M. FARMER.

' ROTARY ENGINE.

No. 394,684. Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

fiyf 2% r E f 17 i E F a 4 6 77 Z WITNESSES} INENTOR: M Y (t ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I JULIUS M. FARMER, OF NE\\' YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNEASSIGNMENTS, OF PART TO CHARLES FREDERICK FOGG, OF SAME PLACE,

AND HORACE C. STROU'I, OF BROOKLYN, NEXV YORK.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,684, dated December18, 1888.

Application filed January 31, 1888. Serial No. 262,492. (No model.)

To all 1072 0710 it may concern: disk D, so that when the latter isrotated it Be it known that I, JULIUS M. FARMER, of also rotates theshaft B. The disk D is the city, county, and State of New York, havemounted to turn on a conical hub, E, secured invented a new and ImprovedRotary Engine, to one of the standards of the frame A, and 5 of whichthe following is a full, clear, and ex- 011 the top of the said conicalhub E is formed act description. a steam-chest, F, provided with asteam-inlet The object of the invention is to provide a pipe, G, andalso provided with a slide-valve, new and improved rotary engine whichH, adapted to open and close alternately the simple and durable inconstruction and very live-steam ports a and b, extending inward in toeffective in operation, utilizing the steam to the hub E from theinterior of the steamthe fullest advantage, at the same time being chestF. A suitable mechanism, I, is used for easily reversed. moving the saidslide-Valve II over the re The invention consists of a revolving diskspective ports a and 1) whenever the operator n secured to the maindriving-shaft and carrydesires to reverse the engine. It is under- 15ing one, two, or more sets of cylinders, each set stood that when one ofthe ports a or b is consisting of two cylinders placed diametricopenedthe other port is closed, and vice versa.

ally opposite each other and connected with On the disk D are securedone, two, or more each other by a piston-rod carrying a cross sets ofcylinders, J J and K K, the cylinders head held to slide on a fixed pinarranged ecof each set being placed diametrically oppo- 20 centricallyto the said revolving disk, and of site each other, as is shown in Figs.1 and 4. P a steam-chest formed on the bearing of the In the cylinders JJ operate the pistons L disk and connected l.) \fh'lllttl l(; ports withthe and Ii, respectively, connected with each sets of steam-cylinders.other by a pistona'od, L carrying in its mid- The invention alsoconsists of certain parts dle a cross-head, L ,131Old6d with a slot, L 25 and details and combinations of the same, as extending at right angles011 each side of the will be fully described hereinafter, and thenpiston-rod L The cylinders K and K are pointed out in the claims.provided with pistons N and N, respectively, Reference is to be had tothe accompanying connected with each other by piston-rod N k drawings,forming a part. of this specification, also provided in its middle witha cross-head, 30 in which similar letters of reference indicate N,having a slot, N", extending at right ancorres 'ionding parts in all thefigures. gles to the pistonrod N Thus the two cross- Figure 1 is a frontelevation of the imheads L and N are held at right angles to provement.Fig. 2 is a sectional end elevaeach othcrone in frontof the other sothat tion of the same on the liner .1." of Fig. i. Fig. a pin, O,extends into the slots I. and N of 35 3 is a like view of the same onthe line 1 yof the said cross-heads L and N The pin 0 is L Fig. 4. Fig,4 is a sectional end elevation of secured to a standard, I, fastened onthe main the improvement on the line .2 of Fig. 1. frame A, and the saidpin 0 is held eccentric Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the disk-bearingto the main driving-shaft B, the distance beand steam-chest; and Fig. i;is a sectional eletween the axes of the shaft B and the pin 0 4o vationon the line "w u of Fig. 5, showing part being equal to one-half of thestroke of each of the disk in section. of the cylinders J J and N N.

On a suitably constructed frame, A, is On the shaft B is coiled aspring, R, one 0 L mounted to rotate the main driving-shaft B, end ofwhich rests on the hub E, its other end provided with a driving-pulley,C, for transpressing against a collar, S, secured on the 45 mit-ting therotary motion of the shaft B. The main shaft B. The spring R exerts apressfront end of the shaft B is provided with a ure against the shaft Bin the direction of the head,B,having lugs B fitting in correspondarrowto, so thatthe disk D is firmly held on 5 ing recesses formed in thefront end of the I its conical bearing or hub E, thereby forming asteam-tight joint between the said disk D- and its bearing El 5 In theouter end of the cylinder J is formed a port, d, which connectspermanently with a channel, 6, formed in the disk D, and extending to aport, (1, formed in the inner end of the cylinder J. A port, f, isformed in. the inner end of the cylinder J, and connects permanentlywith a channel, g, formed in the disk D and extending to a port, f,formed in the outer end of the cylinder J. The channels e and g extendon opposite sides of the hub or hearing E, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and3.

Inthe outer end of the cylinder K is formed a port, 71, which registerspermanently with a channel, 1', formed in the disk D and extend ing to aport, h,formed in, the inner end of the cylinder K. In the inner end ofthe cylinder K is, formed a port, j, which connects permanently with thechannel 7:, leading to a port,' 7", formed in, the outer end of thecylinder K. The channels 1' and 7r; extend at opposite sides of the hubEand at right angles to the channels e and g, as illustrated in Figs. 1and 3. The channel e leads into a U- shaped channel, 6, opening at bothends into the conical aperture D, which forms the bearing of the disk Don the hub E. The other channels, g, 2, and 76, open into like U-shapedchannels 6 '5 and it" also leadin into the conical aperture D of thedisk D.

J The U-shaped channels 6 g and t" it" are arranged opposite each other,as shown in Fig. 2, and the end openings of each of the said channelsare alternately opened and closed by the slides 2 g*, F, and krespectively, so that when one of the end openings of the respectivechannel is open the other one is closed by its corresponding slide, and

vice versa. The open end of each U-shaped channel 6, g, i, or 7tregisters alternately at each revolution of. the disk D with the openlive-steam ports'a or b and with the exhaustport 0, formedin the hub Eand leading to an exhaust-pipe, 0', extending to the outside in the usml manner. The live-steam port a extends from the steam-chest F and opensinto the periphery of the hub E at a near the inner end of the saidhubE, and the other livesteam port 1) extends from the steam-chest F andopens into the periphery of the hub E at 1), near the outer end of thesaid hub. The endopenings to and b of the live-steam ports a and b areplaced a short distance 011 one side of the horizontal central plane ofthe I hub E, as is plainly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 that is, theendopening a of the live-steam port a is above themiddle line of thedisk D and the end opening I) of the live-steam port I) is a likedistance below the middle line.

The exhaust-port 0 opens at 0 into the periphery of the hub E, near theinner endof the latter, in a vertical plane with the end opening a ofthe steam-port a. From the exhau'st-port c, nearits end opening 0extends a continuation of the exhaust-port c, which opens into theperiphery of the hub E at 0 which is in a vertical plane with the endopening 1) of the live-steam port I).

The operation is as follows: As shown in Fig. 4, the live-steam port I)is closed by the slide-valve II, while the live-steam port a is open, sothat the steam entering the steam-inlet pipe G passes through thesteam-chest F and passes into the port a through the same and out of thelatter at its opening a. The slides e i and k are in their outermostposition, so that the innermost end openings of the U-shaped channels 6,g, i, and in register with thesaid end opening a, whereby the *livesteam can pass alternately into the channels 0, 7;, g, and '1', thussupplying the respective cylinders J J K K with live steam:

\Vhen the channel g registers with the end opening a, the live steampasses into the channel g, and from the latter passes simultaneously tothe ports f and fin the cylinders J J, whereby the piston li is movedoutward and the piston L is moved inward,- so that the piston-rod Zslides across the face of the disk D in the direction of the arrow 13,whereby the cross-head L forms a fulcrumpoint for the disk D at the pin0, so that the said disk is rotated in the direction of the arrow 8 anda consequent rotary motion is imparted to the main shaft B, whichtransmits its rotary motion to the machinery to be driven.

As the disk D revolves, the inner end of the the disk D the steam in thecylinders J and i J can exhaust on. the return-stroke of the pistons l.and L through the ports f and f and thechannel g, through which thesteam originally entered. As soon as the channel g has cut off from theend opening a" of the live-steam port a, the next following channel, 1

70, connects by the open end of its U-sha-ped channel it with the saidopening a of the live-steam port a, so that the live steam from thesteam-chest F passes into the channel 7.:

and to the inner endof the cylinder K and the outer end of the cylinderK, the respect ive pistons N and N being in the same relative positiondescribed in reference to the cylinders J and J, and as shown in Fig. 4.The steam will thus act onthe pistons N and N and force the same outwardand inward, respectively, whereby a new impulse is given to the disk Din the direction of the arrow 5 by the action of its cross head N "onthe eccentric-pin O. Duringone-halfof a revolution the steam enteredthrough the channel 10 into the cylinders K K expanded, forcing thepistonsN and N to the end of then-stroke,

after which the channel k, afterits U-shaped end opening 0 of theexhaust-channel 0, so that on the return-stroke ot the piston N and Nthe steam will be exhausted through the same channel 70, the respectiveports jj, and the exhaustrport c. It is understood that the connectionof the open end of the channel g and the channel 76 with the end openinga of the live-steam port A takes place during onequarter of a revolutionof the disk D. During the next quarter-revolution ot' the disk D theopen end of the Ushaped channel 6 will connect in the same manner asabove described in relation to the channels g and It" with the open enda of the live-steam port a, so that the steam enters in the channel 6,and from the latter passes to the ports (1 and d at r the outer or innerends of the cylinders J and J, respectively. As the pistons L and L inthe cylinders J and J have traveled to their outer or inner ends,respectively, the steam entering through the said channel 6 and theports (Z and (1 will cause the return-stroke of the return-pistons L andL, as above men tioned. This return-stroke takes place during one-halfrevolution of the disk D from the time that the steam-port g took steamfrom the live-steam port a, as above mentioned. The channel c, forcutting off from the end a of the live-steam port a, makes one-half of arevolution, and then connects with the end openings 1; of theexhaust-channel c. XV hen the disk D has made one-quarter of arevolution, beginning at the time when the channel e registered with theend opening a of the live-steam port a, then the open end of theU-shaped channel L registers with the open end a of the live-steam porta, so that steam from the steam-chest F passes into the channel 1', andthrough the outer and inner ends, respectively, of the cylinders K and Kin the same manner as above described in reference to the cylinders Jand J. Thus it will be seen that each set of cylinders, after takingsteam with one channel at the end opening, a, of the two sets ofcylinders J J and K K are placed at right angles to each other, it willbe seen every quarter-revolution of the same. It will further-be seenthat the "steam exerts its pressure on the two pistons of each set ofcylinders at the same time, and, as the said two pistons by theirpiston-rod and cross-head and the eccentric-pin 0 act on the disk D inone direction, the latter is turned with twice the force that would beused if only one cylinder had been employed.

When the operator desires to reverse the engine, he turns the valvemechanism 1 so that the slide-valve H closes the live-steam port a andopens the live-steam port b. The

live steam now enters from the steam-chest F into the port I) and passesto its end opening, I), where it comes in contact with the outer end ofthe respective slide 0 k or (see Fig. 6,) so that the said slide ismoved inward by the pressure of the steam, thereby closing the formeropen end of the U-shaped channel e, k, g, or i, and opening the otherend of the said respective channel. As the open ends a and I) of therespective ports a and b are above and below the horizontal middle lineof the disk I), as before described, and shown in Fig. 5, it will beseen that the live steam now passing from the live-steam port I) throughthe open end 6 of the respective channels e, [0, g, and i will cause thedisk D to rotate in the inverse direction of the arrow 5.

The above operation is repeated, with the only. difference that the livesteam passes through the port 1), its end opening, I), and into therespective channels c, k, and i, and the exhaust takes place through thesame channels, registering with the open end of the exhaust-channel c.As the slides e k g and i are now in their innermost position, the endopenings, (1 and 0 are closed on the revolving movement of the disk D bythe said slides passing alternately over the said openings a" and Havingthus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. In a rotary engine, the combimttion, with arevolving disk secured to the main drivingshaft and carrying two or moresets of cylinders, each set consisting of two cylinders placeddiametrically opposite each other, of a piston-rod connecting the twopistons of a set of cylinders and a cross-head secured on each of thesaid piston-rods and provided with a slot extending at right angles tothe said piston-rod, a fixed pin held eecentrically to 3 the center ofthe said disk and extending into live-steam port a makes onehalf ot arevolu- I the said slots of the cross-heads, a steam-chest formed on thebearing of the disk and prof vided with two live-steam ports, and aslidevalve held over the said two live-steam ports, so that when one isopened the other is closed, whereby the engine can be reversed,substantially as shown and described.

2. In a rotary steam-engine, the combination, with a bearing providedwith steam inlet that a new impulse is given to the disk D at ports andexhaust-ports, of a steam-chest formed on the said bearing, a valve heldto slide in the said bearing over the said two ports, so that when oneis open the other is closed, a disk held to rotate on the said bearingand secured to the main driving-shaft, said disk being provided withports adapted to register with the said steam inlet and outlet ports inthe bearing, two or more sets of cylinders secured to the said disk,each set consisting of two cylinders placed diametrically opposite eachother and connected with each other by a piston-rod carrying acrosshead, and a fixed pin held eccentrically t the center of the saiddisk and adapted to engage the cross-heads of the said piston-rods,substantially as shown and described.

3. In arotary engine, the combination, with a bearing provided withinlet and outlet ports, of a steam-chest formed on the said. bearing andinto which open the said inlet-ports, a

valve held to slide over the said inletports so that When one is openthe other is closed, a disk held to rotate on the said bearing andprovided with channels adapted to register with the said inlet andoutlet ports, slides held over the said channels so as to connect thelatter alternately with the respective inlet and outlet ports, two ormore sets of cylinders held on the said disk and into which open thesaid channels in the disk, each set of cylinders consisting of tWocylinders placed diametrically opposite each other, a piston held toslide in each of the cylinders, a piston-rod connecting the two pistonsof one set of cylinders, a cross-head formed in the middle of eachpiston-rod, each cross-head being provided with a slot extending atright angles to the piston-rod, and a fixed pin held eccentrically tothe center of the said disk and extending into the slots of the saidcrossheads, substantially as shown and described.

JULIUS M. FARMEB.

\Vitnesses:

'lHEo. G. HOSTER, C. SEDG ICK.

I re

